The other day, The Wall Street Journal, CBS and other media outlets reported what was unbelievable for some – “Kodak May File For Bankruptcy”. This news was shocking to some, not to me. Here is what I believe REALTORS {and all businesses really} can learn from Eastman Kodak.
Founded in 1880 by George Eastman, Kodak dominated the photographic film industry. Kodak’s strategy of selling inexpensive cameras and making large margins from film, chemicals and paper allowed the company to command 90% of film sales and 85% of camera sales in the United States.
The trouble began in 1984 for Kodak. 1984 was the year Japanese competitor Fujifilm entered the U.S. market with cheaper priced film and film supplies. America’s film brand – Kodak refused to believe that Americans would ever desert it in favor of a foreign brand. In 1984 Kodak passed on the opportunity to become the official film of the Los Angeles Olympics, an opportunity Fuji jumped on.
The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics sponsorship rights gave Fuji a foothold it would never relinquish in the U.S. marketplace. Soon after, Fuji opened a film plant in the United States. and began aggressively marketing and pricing its products taking market share from Kodak.
In the 1990′s Kodak began its move to digital technology, manufacturing Apple’s QuickTake digital cameras. Aside from this, there was little implementation of a digital strategy. Kodak executives could simply not comprehend a world without traditional film and cameras so there was no incentive to change.
Kodak finally moved to the digital camera market, with its release of the Kodak EasyShare family of digital cameras. I had one of these, so did my parents. Kodak studied customer behavior and found out that women loved taking digital photos but found it challenging to move the pictures to their PC’s.
Kodak seized on this opportunity by releasing model after model of top-quality digital cameras at affordable prices that made it easy to share photos with friends and family members – online. Kodak invented the printer dock, where the camera was inserted into the dock, press a button, and print the photos. In 2005, Kodak was #1 in the United States in digital camera sales.
One problem. Kodak, like many others didn’t realize how fast digital cameras would realize low profit margins, as more competitors [SONY] entered the market in the mid-2000s. As consumers began to take more digital pictures with their cell phones their marketshare and profits plummeted. You can see where this is going.
I am from Syracuse, New York, I am very familiar with Eastman Kodak, their corporate headquarters are 90 miles to the west in Rochester New York. It is sad to see the company go through this. Is it shocking? NO. When is the last time you used a Kodak Camera or bought Kodak film? Consumer behavior simply changed and Kodak {and many others} failed to keep pace with it.
You may be thinking, “Thanks for the history lesson Stephen but what does the rise and fall of Kodak have to be with me?”. The answer. EVERYTHING. At one point, Kodak was America’s film company. A household name. They became comfortable and did not sufficiently invest in emerging technologies. Emerging technologies like online real estate marketing that changed CONSUMER BEHAVIOR.
There has been a shift occurring in the real estate space since 2007, many REALTORS have not fully realized the impact this shift in behavior will have on their real estate business. Many REALTORS have not realized the pain this shift will cause in their real estate business as they have focused on Bank Owned {REO} and Short Sales.
The shift – is to the Internet. Online Real Estate Marketing. Once thought of as a fad, the Internet has revolutionized many industries and business plans – but not really for individual real estate agents and brokerages. Look at your major competitors – REALTOR dot Com, Trulia, Zillow, Homes dot com, MSN and others - they are the Fuji to your Kodak. They have been investing in this new technology – the Internet, online real estate marketing, they have been optimizing content [homes for sale] from your MLS and it has been getting THEM found online. Do a Google search for a broad term – I bet ya REALTOR dot com, Zillow, Yahoo Real Estate or Trulia is leading the pack.
Many REALTORS have remained comfortable with REO and Short Sale, failing to realize a business without them. But what happens when the Arizona housing market recovers – there is no REO, there is no Short Sale. When you can’t easily identify a consumer in need of your real estate services using a Notice Of Default List, 30,60,90 late list, Notice Of Trustee Sale. What happens then? Will you pick up a postcard, flyer, do not call or email list, or will you finally be ready to learn about online real estate marketing?
When you look in that bag of marbles that is the housing market, you can easily pick out the RED marbles from the GREEN, the red being those consumers that need to short sale their homes. What happens when you look in that bag and all the marbles are GREEN? What will you do then? Which way is UP? It will be like waking up on Mars for many real estate agents – and brokerages!
Online Real Estate Marketing: Help Consumers FIND YOU
All of this could have been avoided if you had only invested in technology, in online real estate marketing. Don’t be the next KODAK. Learn how to market to real estate consumers in the ways they want to be marketed to. Over 94% of them go to the Internet 1st when looking for homes. This is where many of them will find their next home, loan and yes – REALTOR®. Instead of relying on hard plastic disposable cameras and film [post cards, flyers, print real estate books, grocery cart ads, door to door, cold calls, email blasts, static websites and others] learn about the shift to digital cell phones [WordPress, Video, YouTube, Content, Screen Capture, Pay Per Click, Keyword Research, Indexable IDX and others].
Will YOU be the next Kodak? As the Director of Sales Technology, I help clients of Lawyers Title grow their real estate business with online real estate marketing, digital technologies like the ones above. I can help you too. Please fill out the form below to discuss how I can help you or attend one {or more} of our Phoenix Real Estate Marketing Classes
Are you an Arizona REALTOR® looking to grow your real estate business? Let's talk about how I and Lawyers Title can help. Don't be the Next Kodak.
2012 will be the year that real estate professionals across the county will be realizing the power of using video in real estate marketing. 2 years ago everywhere I turned I heard Facebook this, Facebook that – today the 2 syllable marketing powerhouse known as face book is being replaced by another, one that I believe offers significantly more benefit in the real estate space- You Tube.
If you follow my real estate marketing blog, my YouTube Channel my Twitter or have come to one of my Phoenix video classes you know that I teach why and more importantly HOW video can be used in real estate marketing. Listings, subdivisions, purchase contract overviews,screen capture demonstrations, expert interviews, market updates, things to do in Phoenix, opinion, testimonials etc. The list really goes on and on. Unlike Facebook ads and Pay Per Click marketing, a properly optimized video on a video hosting site like YouTube can deliver qualified traffic [consumers] for FREE and for EVER.
One of the 1st things I address in my “How To Use Video In Real Estate” and my 10 Tips To Video Marketing Success class is the misconception that a video’s success is measured in the number of views. When we receive the latest video of a talking dog, or dancing baby that says “hey dude, you gotta check this out!” We will often look at the number of views FIRST, we have been conditioned to do so. The number of views validates the video [social proof ] as millions of views means the video must be good right? Wrong. Most people lucky enough or in some cases UN lucky enough to have a video go VIRAL with hundreds of millions of views have never and will never make a single penny off of it. Question: Would you prefer to have a video with 1,000,000 views by people that have no interest or need for your real estate services or 5 views from buyers, sellers or investors that actually have a need? Exactly.Using video is your real estate business is not about the number of views, Video marketing is about Traffic and Conversion.
Before I make a video I first evaluate WHO I am making the video for. Who am I talking to? Who is my audience. WHO do I want to FIND my video? Then I get in that persons mind or shoes, {so to speak} and think about what they would look for when they had a need for what my video is about. Once I know this I am able to research my keywords to create my message that speaks in a tone that is right for that audience. This method gets me TRAFFIC. Traffic is my ideal client that is searching in a search engine like Google or YouTube to gather information or solve a problem. This is what I want. Once I get the traffic to my video it then needs to be converted.
Traffic without conversion means nothing. It’s kind of like the guy that has 5000 Facebook friends [and can't wait to tell you about it] that he really doesn’t know and more importantly, they don’t know him. It’s a waste. There are many benefits of using video in your real estate business but my goal is to convert that traffic into customers. This often relies upon a strong value proposition or Unique Selling Proposition [how you are different, better, what problem do you solve] and a good call to action. Go HERE and do THIS for this VALUE.
In order to measure my success I need to know HOW people are finding my videos. WHERE they are coming from [Google, YouTube Search, YouTube Related Search, Twitter etc] and WHAT they are doing when they watch my videos. YouTube had a tool called Insights for this. I could open a video and using insights, see information like demographics, region, Hotspots – the parts of my video my audience likes and is engaged by and what parts they are exiting my video from. While this information was great, it wasn’t awesome. It left something to be desired. If only YouTube had something more like Google Analytics. Well today YouTube introduced Analytics.
Beginning yesterday [11/30/11] when you log into your YouTube account you can see through your YouTube Analytics – views, demographics, video popularity by region, your channels overall performance, discovery [how your videos are being found] and engagement – all in one easy to use screen.
YouTube Analytics will help you better understand WHO your audience is, HOW they are finding you, and WHAT they are engaged by so you can create better content. If it’s one thing I have learned, no one likes “Vanilla”, it’s boring. Eyeballs go to the best content on the web. Consumers have a short attention span, understanding and leveraging YouTube analytics can help you stretch that attention span out to the call to action and point of conversion. For more information check out How To Use Video In Real Estate Marketing.
If you are a real estate professional in the Phoenix Metro area that wants help with video marketing please contact me for more info about my Phoenix Real Estate Video Marketing Classes.
Attention Real Estate Peeps, It Likely Just Got A Lot Harder To Get Found Online
Yesterday Zillow Announced it acquired Diverse Solutions. I am not a real estate agent, REALTOR®, Real Estate Consultant or any combination thereof but I believe it likely just got harder for real estate agents like yourself to get "found" online.
As Twitter exploded with congratulations to Zillow and Diverse Solutions [congratulations to you both by the way] from real estate agents, REALTORS®, Inman and the like I am scratching my head. “Don’t they know what this could mean?” I thought.
I believe 3rd party aggregators like REALTOR.com, Zillow and Trulia.com are COMPETITORS to real estate agents. I don’t blame these competitors, they are doing what most real estate agents cannot or will not do, they are optimizing the data [listings] real estate agents, REALTORS® and their brokers create, combining it with quality, educational and valuable content to draw consumers to their websites. If YOU [real estate agent] are not going to do it – why shouldn’t they?
Do a Google search for real estate in your area, chances are you will find one of the big 3 [as I like to call them] at the top of the search engines: REALTOR.COM, ZILLOW.COM or TRULIA.COM. Today more than 94% of consumers are going online FIRST when starting their home search. They go online, they land on one of the big 3 and they do what? Register. Wouldn’t you? Their websites are optimized, consumer friendly, ergonomic and educational – everything your real estate websites likely are not. Those leads are then sold to real estate agents – your competitors – that advertise on said websites. Follow me here:
One of the best ways to compete with the big 3 was to blog regularly, on your website, on Active Rain etc about hyper-local search terms, “4-bedroom-2-bath-homes-for-sale-Scottsdale”, “Homes-For-Sale-Under-200,000-Chandler” “1234-E-Main-Street-Los Angeles” etc. In the recent years there has been a shift towards indexable IDX [internet Data Exchange] solutions. An IDX gives consumers the ability to search for homes on your real estate website. A real estate website without an IDX is like a car without an engine, it ain’t goin nowhere.
Unlike a traditional IDX that displays the data [homes for sale] consumers are searching for online in an iframe, [rendering them invisible to search engines like Google], an indexable IDX displays the data on a website in a way that search engines can see it. Hence drawing traffic [consumers] to websites utilizing this technology. A good indexable IDX ccan create thousands of indexable property listing pages on a REALTORS® website for hyper-local search terms consumers looking for a home would use. More indexable content, more consumers – more consumers, more leads – more leads, more closed deals.
Diverse Solutions offers an Indexable IDX Solution. Unlike Zillow, Diverse Solutions is not, shall I sayWAS NOT a competitor to you, they provided a solution that helped real estate agents [like you] get found online. A solution that could legitimately compete for traffic with the big 3.
If Diverse Solutions is going to be used [by Zillow] to help you drive traffic to your real estate websites,all is right in the world, BUT [and here's the RUB] IF Diverse Solutions is going to be used to drive more traffic to Zillow.COM and AWAY from your real estate website then Watch Out cause it just got harder to get found online.
It will be interesting to see what transpires in the coming months with Zillow and Diverse Solutions. Besides Zillow and Diverse Solutions, There are “other” winners in this acquisition, the other IDX companies with an Indexable IDX . I suspect this news will have some real estate agents [weary of the big 3] heading for the exits, they will more than likely be looking for another Indexable IDX Solution.
Your thoughts? Is this good or bad for the real estate community?
Are you using real estate video yet? After 10 years in the title industry I can tell you that there are 2 types of real estate agents today: those that are using video in their real estate business and those that will be. Just like you HAD to get a website to compete in the real estate space, you will need to incorporate video in to your real estate business to do the same. Not because you want to or because it's fun [it is by the way], or even because it's cool - you will be using real estate video in your real estate marketing because consumers demand it. Period. Relax, it is not as hard or challenging as you may thing and it is most likely not about what you think it is.
I mentioned that I spent 10 years in the title industry, I left in March 2011 to co found an inbound marketing real estate company called PRO-Found Marketing. PRO-Found started as an inbound marketing real estate company and has morphed into a technology company with the upcoming release of an Indexable IDX Solution. Things are good, our ideal client is finding us. Not just through Google search but through YouTube Search and YouTube Related Search. With over 150 videos on the MyTitleGuy YouTube Channel [85 public, the rest unlisted] I can tell you that real estate video can have an amazing impact on your business. You just need to get over yourself and start making real estate videos of VALUE.
One of the things that kills me about real estate marketing is the me me me marketing. "I'm aweosme, I'm great, I sell more homes than anyone in my office, Top producer 2004" - IT'S 2011! Everytime I see a website that is more about the agent and their AMAZING team than it is about the consumer - I cringe. Every time I see an NAR commercial on TV - I cringe, because it is more about real estate agents than it is the consumer, everytime I see a real estate agent leveraging video in the wrong way - I cringe. One thing I have earned from my labor of love MyTitleGuy.COM [FORMERKY MYTITLEGUY.NET] is that traffic goes to the best content on the Internet. If your content - blog posts, video, pictures, podcasts, ebooks, etc is not of VALUE to the end user, it will most likely never be seen outside of the real estate agents friends and family.
I find that real estate agents that want to use real estate video in their real estate marketing are often at a disadvantage right away. Why? Mindset. Many real estate agents want to measure their real estate videos success by views, this is a huge mistake. We are conditioned to measure videos by the number of views, "it is a good video? I don't know, let's look at the number of views". This is the social proof, if millions of other prople watched a video it must be good - right? Wrong. When you are using real estate video for real it is not about the number of views, its about 2 things:
We hear stories all the time about people who are giving up on their home. They have tried a loan modification, short sale and are now in the Strategic Default mentality. They are walking. "C ya, bye bye. I'm out of here." We hear those kind of stories all the time - especially here in Phoenix Arizona where over 80% of our local market is distressed - short sale or bank owned. Hello, my name is Stephen Garner. I am a former title rep for a national title insurance company in Phoenix and co founder of PRO-Found Marketing. I spent 10 years helping real estate professionals - real estate agents and loan officers - grow ther business.
We hear the stories of people simply walking away. What we don't usually hear about the homeownwers [at least not on the news - or mainstream media] is about the homeowners that are fighting tooth and nail to hold on to the American Dream - their home. We don't hear about the homeownwers that are washing cars, cleaning friends homes, trying anything to just - hold on. Why? Because good news doesn't [usually] sell.
We don't hear about these stories unless there is some kind of controversy surrounding the story itself. Ya know what is controversial though? A couple in Litchfield Park Arizona who decided to try something different – something unique. Something [in my opinion] genius.
Dottie Sosnicki and her husband, a custom home builder [who has not built a custom home in 4 years] own a 17,000-square-foot home in Litchfield Park, Arizona and needed some way to continue paying their house payments and other bills, so what did they do?
This.
Well, It appears Dottie and her husbands idea is "paying" off - pun intended. There are thousands of people that would have simply walked away and given up, but not this couple, I think it's great to hear how some are looking outside the box to save their home. Kudos to you.
I suspect we will hear about this story again real soon, I bet every news outlet in the Phoenix Metro area will will cover the follow up to this story when the couples HOA tries to put an end to this new business model.
Stay tuned.
What do you think about Dotti's idea - Good Idea? Bad Idea?
Stephen holds a B.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV). Stephen worked in the title industry for 10 years. Now he helps professionals get "found" online.
I'm a former title rep {10 years} for a national title insurance company in Phoenix, AZ. I help professionals get "found" on the Internet.
I am a married father of 5, (2 humans - 3 dogs)
Co-Founder PRO-Found Marketing. Pro-Found Marketing is all about Inbound Marketing Services, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimization and Social Media. We combine these essential services with best practice web development and web design to get our clients' websites found with increased conversion rates.
“I have worked with Stephen and his escrow officers in multiple real estate transactions - both residential and commercial. He keeps you informed every step of the way and follows through with his promises. Always the professional, I would put Stephen at the top of my professional relationships. Stephen has also gone out of his way to help me with setting up social media marketing to assist my REO business and build my client base. Stephen you are the BEST!” November 7, 2010
“Stephen is progressive and creative in how he conducts his business and marketing endeavors. He has established himself as an expert in technology and social networking and coaches others to implement and achieve more. As one of the few professionals in his field that "gets it", he stands out by providing real value that leads people to seek him out and partner with his organization.” July 15, 2010
“Stephen literally blew my mind from the first time we met with his wealth of knowledge and information... it helped me change the direction of my Realtor business to get me ahead of the marketing curve. His intstructional information is extremely easy to understand, most importantly implent and equally as powerful for our business. His customer service has exceeded my expectations and I look forward to a lengthy business relationship with Stephen.” July 6, 2010
“Stephen has been a tremendous asset for my business. He is extremely creative and knowledgeable about today's market and social media. I highly encourage anyone who is in the business, or wants to stay in the business to include him in their business. He will help you form a business plan and be ahead of the curve. Thank you!” May 17, 2010
“After knowing and working with Stephen in one capacity or another for probably the last 5 years, I would now consider him a friend. His work ethic, commitment to his clients and his obligations, his creativity make him one of the only people I would consider working with for the services he provides. I can honestly say that he is partly responsible for the success our own company has experienced. Thank you Stephen.”
“Stephen Garner is the best in the business. He is honest, dependable, supportive, knowledgeable and very helpful with marketing ideas and education to help grow my business. He goes the extra mile and he always has a good attitude.” January 9, 2009
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